"After very, very hard long years since the global financial crisis, what you're seeing is airlines now expanding to take up that new investment," he said.

"It was hard to try and get Emirates here but it's easier when people are saying to them, their customers are saying to them 'We want to go to Kangaroo Island, I don't want to come through Sydney or Melbourne'."

The SA Government will not reveal the amount of financial support it will give Emirates, but it is still trying to recoup money from Tiger Airways after that carrier pulled out of Adelaide last year.

"If this arrangement didn't work, the taxpayers would not be disadvantaged but I'm confident, very confident that we have here a partnership between the State Government, Adelaide Airport and a first-class international carrier and I'm very confident that is going to work well," the Acting Premier said.

Adelaide Airport said the Emirates service would be the first direct international airline connection between South Australia and the Middle East.